Jun 14, 2011

Fabric Rolled Roses: Day 1

I am doing a flower tutorial each day this week. Today is fabric rolled roses day. This is a really easy version for attaching beads and buttons to the center too. I know you've seen this other places. I had too, before coming up with these. Here a couple of necklaces I made with the idea.

The problem was, I wanted to attach beads and buttons to the center, so that meant I couldn't use hot glue throughout. Recently, all the tutorials I have seen use hot glue as they roll it up. You can't sew through dried hot glue. Ever try to get a needle through that? Yeah, it won't work out. Also, I hadn't been able to find a tutorial on how to roll them at the time (now they are everywhere), so I came up with my own method that I think works pretty well (after trying many different ways that failed). I still use hot glue, and there is a little sewing involved when sewing on the beads, but these steps allow you to attach whatever you want to the center very easily. You can use these anywhere for all sorts of decorations. You attach pins, hair, clips, brooch backs, or get your hot glue on and stick them to anything that needs a little extra pizzazz. I put some on some black flats. I wanted them to still be black neutral, just a bit more snazzy. I think they are.So here we go. You need:

Fabric (some experimentation here would be good for the length of the strip but I use the length of a width of fabric off the bolt. It really just depends on the fabric weight and the desired finished size of the rose. One other note, the blue necklace is cotton, the tan one is wool and satin, and the shoes are black knit, so any material works with one exception: Chiffon types. It can be done, but it's pretty hard to work with. Again, learned by trial and error.)

Scissors

Needle and thread

Beads or buttons

Hot glue (yes, I still use it, but not throughout the rose)

A small bit of felt in a corresponding color for the rose back (or a larger piece if you are making a necklace as the felt is the whole back of the necklace)

Brooch or hair clip if you are going to use that for the back

IF you are making a necklace, then you will need ribbon too (2 pieces)
First start by cutting your strip. I usually cut around an inch wide.
I have two cut here because I was making the shoe clips so I needed two roses. I don't know that black was the best color to use for a tutorial, but I was making them for my black flats so this is as good as it gets today.
Fold the strip in half and put a safety pin in the middle. Then attach the safety pin to something you can pull on easily. If I am wearing pants, I often attach it to my jeans right at the knee. However, it's 100 degrees outside today, and I am wearing shorts. So I attached the safety pin to a cloth chair back and I sat behind it in another chair.
Start rolling the two sides. I roll one side one direction (out) and the other side the other direction (also out). Roll all the way to the ends.

(Tip: It seems redundant to roll the two strips and then roll them together again, but if you skip this step, the rose just doesn't have enough texture. I know. Miss Lazy here tried.)
Now take the two rolled strips and roll them together into one strip.
I know this looks like it's curling up. Just pull it out straight and fold the end under. Then under again. Keep rolling it up like a snail!

Keep rolling or coiling it up. Make sure to keep the layers flat as you roll (this is the hard part and sometimes I grab small sewing pins and stick them through the layers to hold it flat as I'm rolling).
Keep going all the way up to the safety pin.
Don't undo the safety pin yet.
Holding the rose flat, stick small sewing pins through the sides like spokes on a wheel (sides to center). Put enough in so that it keeps it's flat shape tightly and you can let go. At this point, undo the safety pin. Pin the end flat against the rose.
Now it looks like this. With the sewing pins still in place, you can sew on any buttons or beads you desire.
Cut out a felt circle as big as the rose. If it's a little too big, that's fine. You can trim it later. You just don't want it too small.
Hot glue the rose to the back making sure that you have gotten every layer/coil. Now you can take out the sewing pins. The pins are in the sides and the glue is on the back, so you shouldn't have any trouble with glue sticking to the pins when pulling them out.
And the back is nice and neat too. If you see some coils not quite glued down, you can flip it over and do a little gluing from the top as well, tucking everything in neatly so the glue doesn't show. Trim off any felt that shows from the front.There. Its done and it should be super sturdy.Now glue them to your shoes, attach a brooch back or a hair clip, or make more for a necklace.
Here are some necklace tips (sorry, this is time intensive so I did not keep going and show steps for a necklace in my pictures).

1. Cut a piece of felt the finished size of the necklace (I did a slight "v" formation as you can see above). Glue the flowers to this instead as you finish them. Then trim up the felt when you have enough roses and have glued them down to your liking.

2. If the flowers are only glued to the felt, the necklace will be droopy and won't keep it's shape well. To keep the necklace from being sloppy and drooping when you are wearing it, slip stitch with several stitches each flower to the one next to it. I do this step after I've glued every down and in place. This makes the necklace very sturdy.

3. For the ribbons: After the main body of the necklace is completely finished, I glue a ribbon end to the necklace side/end on the back of the felt. Then I cut a square of felt a little larger than the ribbon and glue it down over the top like a felt sandwhich (this should be hidden in the back). Again, this makes it neat and sturdy and there is no way the ribbon is coming loose from the back.

These really aren't that tough and can be addicting to make once you get started. Happy rolling!

12 comments:

I have been trying to make my own headbands for my little girl and even myself and this looks do able for a girl who does not have a craft bone at all. Thanks for being so detail orientated. I think I might actually be able to do this!